It hasn’t been a pleasant start to 2023 for St. Bonaventure men’s basketball coach Mark Schmidt.
When the calendar changed, he saw his Bonnies go from 13-11 to a 14-18 finish as they dropped six of their last seven games, including a one-and-done in the Atlantic 10 Tournament after being eligible for the double bye 11 games into the conference season.
Worse, Schmidt, who lost all of his roster from the 2021-22 season, was suddenly faced with restocking a squad that could lose half its players. Three, forward Anouar Mellouk, guard Brett Rumpel and center Max Amadasun, are already to be in the transfer portal and the fate of several others is uncertain.
THAT, ALONE, would be a challenging offseason.
But, as it turns out, the biggest void Schmidt has to fill is the loss of associate head coach, Steve Curran. He took an assistant’s job at A-10 rival George Mason.
That, of course, engendered immediate conspiracy theories among the faithful who opined there was a rift between Schmidt and Curran, causing the latter to take a parallel job.
Sorry, but in my view, there’s no such sinister reason for the move.
Five years ago, Schmidt’s top assistant at the time, Dave Moore, took the job as head coach at Division II West Georgia. When Curran was promoted, the assumption was that, after 13 years of high-quality performance, he would eventually earn a Division I or II head coaching position as well.
However, it’s likely George Mason approached him … on merit.
As Schmidt’s top aide, he had recruited most of the main figures in Bona’s recent success: Kyle Lofton, Dominick Welch, Jaylen Adams, Matt Mobley, Courtney Stockard and others.
To me, this is about salary and benefits.
A state college of 36,000 students in Fairfax, Virginia, is in a much better position to generously pay a men’s basketball assistant than a rural school of 2,000 in rural Southwestern New York. And the perks — golf club memberships, cars etc. -— have to be way more than St. Bonaventure can afford.
Then, too, Curran, in his early 50s, seemingly has the freedom to move as his children have graduated from high school, and the idea of moving over 300 miles and five hours south might also have an appeal weatherwise.
FINALLY, THERE’S the elephant in the room … Mellouk and Rumpel.
The two were arrested on April 1 for a “past tense road-rage incident that turned physical” after an investigation by the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department. Both were charged with third-degree assault, though the arrest wasn’t reported until this past Monday. They were given an appearance ticket for a later date at Allegany Court, but that time wasn’t announced.
Presumably, the complaint was filed by the victim or a witness to the incident.
Details are murky but it’s interesting that Rumpel didn’t apply for the portal until four days after the arrest. Mellouk had applied in mid-March.
Both are no longer in the Bona program, but understandably the headlines were specific: “Two Bonnies arrested for road-rage incident.”
And while it’s true, it’s a bad optic for the university whose athletic department delivered the predictable press release.
It read, “As an ongoing legal investigation, we are not able to comment on the matter further. We will gather more information and continue to educate the athletes throughout the process to make sure they understand the high standards we have for them.”
What’s certain is, the incident hasn’t made Schmidt’s 2023 any easier.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
